Cool Devices Box Set

What They SayWelcome to a series of DVDs the likes of which you�ve never seen before! Strong stories, highly charged with erotic content, all presented without Japan�s export censorship (as they were intended to be seen). They don�t follow a single story. They break all the rules. They are Cool Devices. They arent� for kids, but they might be for you if you have the guts. Welcome to a new world�and wash your hands when you�re done.

The Review!Totally uncensored. The nastiest animation we've seen yet. Those and other words of warning, or enticement depending on your point of view. We're no strangers to hentai and were very... uh... excited to see Cool Devices get a DVD release to see what all the buzz is about.

The audio on the three discs are all pretty straightforward two channel stereo mixes. There is only the Japanese language track, more than likely because they'd never be able to convince enough English voice actors to get involved with a project like this. Course, my personal experience with dubbed hentai over the years is that most of the female voice actresses just don't get into it well enough and sounds pretty poor compared to the Japanese ones. Throughout all three discs, dialogue sounded clear and every nuance of every moan was undistorted.

The video also looks quite good. It's not a stellar transfer, but it's very solid. Colors are vibrant in several of the sequences while darks don't experience any noticeable breakup or artifacting. Line noise is at a minimum as well. The only thing that some people may have trouble with is that for all the episodes, the subtitles are hard matted onto the video. For a first release, a Japanese language only one and one that isn't likely to set the sales world on fire, it was probably the easiest and quickest way to get it done. And cost effective as well.

We of course don't endorse this for anime on DVD in general. But it's understandable why it was done here.

Much like previous releases from NuTech, the packaging is a mixed bag. The cover artwork is naturally pretty indicative of what's inside with the warnings plastered all over the place (in pride I suspect!). The back covers contain solid information on each of the episodes contained inside and some basic creative team information. The downside to the packaging is the cases that they use. Much like La Blue Girl and others released in 1999 from NuTech, the cases are a bit deeper than the standard case so they edge out further than others on your shelf. For those who have the box set, it's a challenge to get any of the cases out of the box, especially when they're first bought since they're all wrapped inside the box. The box itself is pretty standard but nothing too exciting.

The menus on the discs are definitely very well done. All of them are animated, and the submenus for each operation has animated chapter stops. Selections are made quickly and the responsiveness of the remote is good. Some time and effort was definitely spent here to make a good looking presentation.

Overall, the discs are pretty well presented with a few little quibbles, but nothing major at all. But what we're all buying it for, at least those with the guts to admit that they bought it, is for the content. And there's some great content on it.

Yeah, you read that right, great content. I'm not like some other sites who despise hentai and review it saying that they hate it or don't understand it. I've enjoyed hentai for years and having read all the reviews of how bad Cool Devices was... man, I was up to that challenge. I mean, you read a dozen reviews where each one is given F ratings... you just wanna get some of that.

With there being 12 episodes and two of them being two parts, there was a lot of variety to what's included. The animation runs the gamut from the god awful (Kirei) to the anime-average (Sacred Girl) to the great (Yellow Star). Character designs and stories tend to follow the same lead, though there is some really outstanding work done in Yellow Star, which was the origin of the Kite OVA's in terms of the main character. If you want to see the naughty bits from the cut Kite, this is probably as close as most people will get to it.

A lot of what's contained inside won't appeal to a lot of people. I've seen a lot of hentai over the years and far more western adult entertainment than you can shake a stick at. These episodes were enjoyable for the most part with some standouts and some dropouts. For the serious hentai collector, this box set will be in your collection. For curious folks, pick up a disc and try it out. For the prudes? Avoid at all cost unless you want your head to explode.